Wednesday, December 19, 2012

A Few Words - In Thinking of Zhu ChengzhiDec. 19, 2012 @ArundahtiIt
has been 194 days since Zhu Chengzhi was detained by the police in
Hunan Province China. His “crime” was to upload several photos and
videos of his late friend who died in a suspicious way. Days ago, people
in twitter said Mr. Zhu was expected to be released on Dec. 15, 2012. I
checked daily and he was still detained and people are calling for his
release daily. In
the past 194 days, many things happened in the world. Mr. Obama got
re-elected; Mo Yan won Nobel literature prize and Tibet continues
burning. If
it seems that ordinary people’s attention shifted along the news, these
few words I am writing is to say: No. We cannot forget all these
righteous people. People
such as Zhu Chengzhi, Hu Jia, Ai Weiwei, Liao Yiwu (and the list can go
long) are the conscience of China. Some call them “dissidents” which I
completely disagree. These are the best of the people who stand for
courage, morality and everything that should be mainstream values.Ordinary
people like me can get intimidated easily. If I sense any danger, my
instinct is to disappear and to hide somewhere. I often excuse my
cowardliness by providing myself numerous justifications. And the number
1 justification is: look, how cruel the regime treated people. Accounts
of the brutal treatment of female prisoners in culture revolution made
me puke. Solzhenitsyn said: the soviets rule the society by two
measures: violence and lies. When lies were no longer effective, people
see only violence, ugly violence. And
there is no 2 justification: there are many people around. Other people
are more brave and more powerful. Let’s wait for them and give support.
So
I pass my days with such thoughts in my mind and shift my attention and
explore new interests. Yet, there is deep guilt and fear for their
wellness: we cannot lose these people. They are like our fathers and our
brothers. If we let this happen, what are we? What is the meaning of
our life? To be completely devoid of meaning, to count how much money,
how many houses you can own, or to see how many women or men you can
attract? Will this be a good life in America? Maybe, it is a “good”
life. But it is a life with phantom. We do not have souls. Just
look at Mo Yan. What a miserable creature. What is he afraid of? He has
won Nobel Prize and he has certain freedom to say things and do things.
But now look at him, in his fat shapeless body hides a timid little
serf without dignity -- and he delivered a speech: I want to tell
stories. What kind of stories can a man without any courage tell?! Lust,
violence, lust lust, violence violence in some fictitious world. That
is all this eunuch can tell. Do we want to be Mo Yan? Certainly not. Or do we want to be consumed by guilt for not speaking out or thinking about people we respect? Therefore
we all face these choices: to be a person we despise, to be silent and
suffer guilt and suffer depression. Or to voice our concern and show our
solidarity with these “dissidents”. I have no choice but solidarity with these “dissidents” - the best of the best. Free all these people - the conscience of China.